Sheridan Square 2: "Goofy" Clubs

Pirate's Den Owner

In the 1910’s and 1920’s a unique type of watering hole opened in the Sheridan Square area.  Called “Goofy Clubs,” these restaurant-bars literally invented the over-the-top thematic ambiance we now take for granted in both theme parks and hundreds of restaurants and bars. Located at 10 Sheridan Square and opened in 1917 by Don Dickerman (at left), the Pirate’s Den was the most famous Goofy Club.  It was decorated like a pirate ship, including cannons bolted to the floor and theatrical waiters dressed as pirates brandishing real swords.  Live caged parrots and screaming monkeys completed the fantasy.  (Monkeys??  Try to get that past the NYC Health Department today!)

Indian_Girl_Costume

Not surprisingly, the Goofy Clubs flourished during Prohibition.  At the Toby Club it was Halloween everyday, much like at the Slaughtered Lamb, with fake cobwebs and spiders, mounted skulls and spooky candles.  At another club waiters dressed in prison stripes and served illicit booze to customers in private cells.  At the Wigwam, yes, you guessed it, servers dressed as Native Americans and wore skimpy outfits with tom-tom accompaniment.

Today crazy theme restaurants are a dime-a-dozen, from Ninja New Yorkto Nascar Sports Grill to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

For better or for worse, Greenwich Village's Goofy Clubs  got the thematic ball rolling about a hundred years ago.

Sheridan Square 1: The Village's "Mousetrap"

Sheridan_Square

Because of its confusing, maze-like streets and corners, guidebooks in the 1920’s called the area “the Mousetrap” where several streets come together -- West 4th, Washington Place, Grove Street and Barrow.

The little triangle in the midst of all this chaos is Sheridan Square, and the geometrical confusion is not its only odd incongruity.  The triangular square, only 4200 square feet, is named after New York native & Civil War hero General Philip Sheridan, whose statue you can find not here in his triangle, but nearby in Christopher Park.  Why would you look for a statue of Sheridan in a triangle named Sheridan Square?  This is New York City!  We do things our own way here.

Sheridan_Subway

Until 1982 the square/triangle was a paved traffic island.  Then the Sheridan Square Triangle Association convinced the city to turn the eyesore into the (hopefully) verdant garden you can visit today.  Twenty-first century New Yorkers know Sheridan Square primarily as a subway stop, but the area’s history is far more "goofy" and intoxicating.   More on that later . . . .